I always thought Abbott and Costello were able to provoke nervous laughter not because of their fumbling deadbeat personas but due to the duo’s sinister undercurrent, as they often seemed to be one small step from utter criminality. Abbott, the manipulative sharpie who was the ringleader of the grifter pair, had a barely concealed vicious streak, and he seemed capable of armed robbery, arson or sex crimes. For the right payoff, he would consider murder. Or perhaps he would indulge in a thrill killing to pass time during the interminable work-free days. No he wouldn’t bloody his own hands but would instead goad his buffoonish other half, whose rage stemmed from a lifetime of humiliations, into committing the deed. What saved them from the gas chamber was in no way a sense of morality but their utter cowardice and constant state of lethargy.

In this clip, the villains handcuff and batter an officer of the law but he manages to escape with his life: